IndiGo issues statement confirming DGCA audit, show-cause notices from regulatory body over use of Pratt & Whitney engines

Budget carrier IndiGo has confirmed in statement that it has been issued show-cause notices by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and that the regulatory body is conducting audits of the carrier. 

The airline said it has responded accordingly and it can only comment on this matter after it has discussions with the regulator on the matter but refused to comment on the reasons for the audit.

The airline said in its statement that it runs the operation in even more stringent ways than prescribed by the regulatory framework.

Below is the statement by IndiGo:

"We confirm that there is currently a DGCA audit on IndiGo which is combined with the annual main base audit. IndiGo has received a limited number of show cause notices. IndiGo has responded accordingly and we can only comment on this matter after we have a discussion with DGCA on this matter. IndiGo refutes the reasons for the audit quoted in your query. We can confirm that IndiGo operation is run in even more stringent ways as prescribed by regulatory framework. As this is an ongoing audit we can only comment after the process is over."

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Cracking the whip on budget carrier IndiGo over the issue of faulty Pratt & Whitney engines, aviation regulator DGCA had served show-cause notices to its chief operating officer and engineering head, sources close to the development said Wednesday.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is also carrying out a special safety audits of the carrier as it has found issues in "operations and engineering of the country's largest airline," an official source said.

DGCA chief BS Bhullar said the regualtor carries out a detailed audit of all airlines at least once a year.  He, however, did comment on the show-cause notice saying, "we conduct detailed audits of all airlines at least once a year. IndiGo's audit is this month, and another airline's is in June. Every audit involves some action."

"The DGCA has issued show-cause notice last week to IndiGo's chief operating officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer and engineering head SC Gupta over the Pratt & Whitney engines issues," the source said.

"The regulator is also conducting a special safety audit of the airline after coming across issues in its operations and engineering," he said.

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(With PTI inputs)